MARCUS GEE
Excerpt:
Could Afghanistan and its backers really afford to spend time and money on recreating the horticultural vision of a long-dead Mughal
emperor? “People said: `You guys are daft to be doing conservation when there is so much humanitarian work to be done,’ ” says Jolyon
Leslie, the urbane South African architect who directed the restoration for the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
Deciding that a city does not live on bread alone, Mr. Leslie and his collaborators went ahead, and the result is a small miracle: a corner
of loveliness in the heart of Kabul. Now open after more than $5-million (U.S.) of work, the garden – at 11 hectares, the size of 20 football fields – draws hundreds of visitors on Fridays, when Afghans begin the Islamic weekend. Families picnic under beech trees. Children chase each other on the lawns. Old men stroll up stone steps past cascades of water.
Excellent Interactive Before and After pictures at this link.
Ismailimail 